Sasha Gong was born and raised in Guangzhou, China, and was a political prisoner before she came to the United States in 1987. She studied at Harvard and obtained her PhD in sociology. Before she came to VOA, Dr. Gong worked as a manger of Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese Service for several years. She also ran for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2009. She wrote about her experiences and thoughts in her book “Born American: A Chinese Woman’s Dream of Liberty.” In 2017, Dr. Gong and other VOA Mandarin Service journalists were opposed to the senior management’s attempts to shorten the Guo Wengui interview but were unsuccessful in getting the full interview with the Chinese whistleblower to air as planned. Following a disagreement over this issue with VOA director Amanda Bennett, Gong was fired by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Other VOA Mandarin Service journalists were also fired or disciplined. They deny VOA director’s charges of insubordination and bad journalism.

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